Laundry drier door



p 1958 R. E. JACKSON 2,852,236

LAUNDRY DRIER DOOR Filed Dec. 28. 1956 IN V EN TOR.

BY /-//s irrapugys Emzvs, .1955, QST 5- 33/92/51 2,852,236 Patented Sept. 16, 1958 LAUNDRY DRIER DOOR Robert E. Jackson, West Covina, Calif., assignor to Challenge Manufacturing Co., Los Angeles, Calif., a corporation ofCaliforni Application December 28, 1956, Serial No. 631,111 4 Claims. (Cl. 259-1) The present invention relates in general to doors for such equipment as laundry driers and a general object of the invention is to provide an improved door and door actuating means for a laundry drier, or similar apparatus.

For convenience in disclosing the present invention, it will be considered in connection with a commercial laundry drier which includes a housing tiltable about a horizontal, transverse axis between an operating position and a loading or unloading position. Rotatable within such housing about a longitudinal or fore-and-aft axis is a drum within which laundry to be conditioned or dried is tumbled in the presence of heated air as is well known in the art. The drum is provided at the front of the drier with an open end which is accessible through a registering doorway in the front wall of the tiltable housing. When the housing is in its operating position, the axis of rotation of the drum is substantially horizontal so that the open end of the drum and the doorway in the front wall of the housing are in substantially vertical planes. However, when the housing is tilted into its loading or unloading position, the aXis of rotation of the drum slopes downwardly and forwardly so that the open end of the drumand the doorway in the front Wall of the housing face downwardly and forwardly for ease of loading of laundry into the drum and for substantially automatic unloading of conditioned or dried laundry therefrom. The doorway in the front wall of the tiltable housing is normally closed by a door which is movable to an open position during loading or unloading of the drum.

A primary object of the invention is to provide an apparatus of the general character hereinbefore dessribed wherein the mounting means for the door and the actuating means therefor are both carried by the front wall of the titltable housing with the actuating means set in a recess in such front wall at one side of and spaced from the doorway. This arrangement of the door mounting and door actuating means provides a clean-cut, uncluttered appearance, and reduces the over-all height of the apparatus by avoiding installation of any components of the door mounting and actuating means on the top of the tiltable housing, which are important features of the invention.

Another object of the invention is to mount the door on a shaft which, in turn, is mounted on the front wall of the tiltable housing above the doorway and the recess mentioned, such shaft extending across or spanning the space between the doorway and the recess and being connected to a door actuator mounted in the recess.

More particularly, an object of the invention is to provide a door actuating and mounting means wherein the door is carried by an arm fixed on the shaft mentioned adjacent one end thereof, and wherein the actuator is connected to another arm fixed on the shaft adjacent the other end thereof.

Another object is to provide an actuator comprising a fluid operated unit having cooperating cylinder and piston 'members, one pivotally connected to the other arm on loaded into or unloaded from the the shaft and the other pivotally mounted on a wall of the 'recess in the front wall of the tiltable housing.

An important object of the invention is to provide a door which makes a substantially fluid-tight seal with the open end of the rotatable drum within the tiltable housing without the use of a rotatable door, or a door having one or more rotatable parts.

More specifically, an object of the invention is to provide a door having a central portion which projects inwardly through the doorway in the front wall of the housing into the open end of the drum when the door is closed.

Another object is to provide a door the inwardly projecting central portion of which includes an inwardly converging peripheral surface disposed in close juxtaposition to a complementary inwardly converging peripheral surface of the open end of the drum to provide a substantially fluid-tight seal between the door and the open end of the drum without actual contact therebetween.

Another object is to provide sealing means engaging the periphery of the door and the front wall of the tiltable housing around the periphery of the doorway when the door is closed, thereby providing a fluid-tight seal between the front wall of the housing and the door when the door is closed.

The foregoing objects, advantages, features and results of the present invention, together with various other objects, advantages, features and results thereof which will be apparent to those skilled in the art in the light of thisdisclosure, or which are inherent in the original claims hereinafter presented, may be achieved with the exemplary embodiment of the invention described in detail hereinafter and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a commercial laundry drier which embodies the present invention; and

Figs. 2 and 3 are enlarged, fragmentary sectional views respectively taken along the arrowed lines 2-2 and 3-3 of Fig. 1 of the drawing.

The numeral 10 designates a laundry drier which includes a housing 12 tiltable relative to a supporting base 14 about a transverse horizontal axis 16. The tiltable housing 12 is provided with a front wall 13 having a doorway 20 for access to the interior of a drum 22, Fig. 3, within the housing. This drum is designed to tumble laundry in the presence of heated air introduced thereinto in any suitable manner, not shown, and is rotatable about a longitudinal or fore-and-aft axis, not shown, which is perpendicular to and intersects the axis 16 of tilting of the housing 12, the axis of the doorway 20 coinciding with the axis of rotation of the drum. The doorway registers with an open end 24 of the drum so that laundry being conditioned or dried may be drum through the doorway Zt) and the open end 24 of the drum.

When the drier 10 is in operation, the housing 12 is tilted about the axis 16 into a position such that the axis of rotation of the drum 22 is substantially horizontal. In loading laundry into and unloading laundry from the drum 22, the housing 12 is tilted about the axis 16 into a position such that the axis of rotation of the drum is inclined downwardly and forwardly. .Under these conditions, the open end 24 of the drum 22 and the doorway 20 face downwardly and forwardly so that laundry may be placed in, or removed from, the drum readily.

The doorway 20 and the open end 24 of the drum 22 are adapted to be closed by a door as which is movable between its closed position and an open position in a manner to be described. The door 26 includes an outer, annular flange 28 which is disposed in close juxtaposition to the outer surface of the front wall 18 of the housing 12 around the periphery of the doorway 20 when the door is closed. In order to prevent the escape of heated air, moisture, and the like, from the interior of the housing 12 when the drier it) is in operation, an annular sealing element 30 engageahle with the annular flange 28 of the door 26 and with the front wall 13 of the housing 12 around the doorway 2b is provided. In the particular construction illustrated, this annular sealing element is U-shaped in cross section and fits over the periphery of the annular flange 28.

The door 26 is provided with an inwardly dished, inwardly converging central portion 32 which extends through the doorway 24) into the open end 24 of the drum 22 when the door is closed. The central portion 32 of the door 26 provides an inwardly converging, external peripheral surface 34 which is located. in close juxtaposition to a complementary, inwardly converging, internal peripheral surface 36 of the open end 24 of the drum 22, there being only a small annular gap between the surfaces 34 and 36. With this construction, a substantially fluidtight seal between the open end 24 of the drum 22 and the door 26 is achieved without actual physical contact between the drum and the door and without the use of a rotatable door, or a door having one or more rotatable components, which is an important feature of the invention.

The front wall 18 of the tiltable housing 12 is provided therein with a recess 40 at one: side of and spaced from the doorway 20. As best shown in Fig. 2 of the drawing, this recess is triangular in vertical cross section and includes a bottom wall 42 and a rear wall 44, the bottom wall being substantially horizontal when the tiltable housing 12 is in its operating position and the rear wall 44 sloping upwardly and forwardly under such conditions. Disposed within the recess 4t) is an actuator 46 for opening and closing the door 26, as will be described in more detail hereinafter.

Rotatable in bearing brackets 48 mounted on the front wall 18 of the tiltable housing 12 above the doorway 2t) and the recess 4-0 and extending across or spanning the space between the doorway and the recess is a shaft 50 which interconnects the door 26 and the actuator 46. The door 26 is carried by an arm 52 which is welded, or otherwise secured, thereto and which is welded, or otherwise secured, to a sleeve 54 on the shaft 50 adjacent one end thereof and between two of the bearing brackets 48. The sleeve 54 is suitably fixed on the shaft 50 so that pivoting of the shaft results in pivotal movement of the door 26 between its open and closed positions.

Fixed on the shaft St} adjacent the other end thereof and in alignment with the recess 40 is an arm 56 to which the actuator 46 is connected so as to communicate movement of the actuator to the door through the medium of the shaft 50.

The actuator 4-6 comprises a double-acting fluid operated unit including a cylinder or cylinder member 58 and a cooperating piston or piston member 60. In the construction illustrated, one end of the cylinder 58 is connected by a pivot 62 to a bracket 64, welded, or otherwise secured, to the bottom wall 42 of the recess 40. The piston 60 is reciprocable in the cylinder 58 and has connected thereto a piston rod 66 which projects from the opposite end of the cylinder. A pivot 68 connects the outer end of the piston rod 66 to the arm 56 on the shaft 50. Fluid for producing reciprocatory movement of the piston oil may be introduced into the cylinder 58 through fluid lines '79 and 72 controlled by a selector valve, not shown. As will be apparent, the fluid operated actuator 46 may be operated either pneumatically by compressed air, or other suitable compressed gas, or by a liquid, such as oil, under pressure.

As will be apparent, introducing a fluid into the cylinder 58 through the fluid line 70 results in upward movernent of the piston 60 into the position shown in dot-and.-

'end of said drum being dash lines, thereby rotating the arms 56 and 52 into the positions shown in such lines to move the door 26 into its open position. By introducing fluid into the cylinder 58 through the line 72, the door 26 may be moved to its closed position, the weight of the door assisting such movement so that it is necessary to apply only a relatively low pressure through the fluid line 72 during doorclosing movement.

The door actuating and mounting means hereinbefore described provides a simple, compact and uncluttered installation which minimizes the over-all height of the drier 16 by avoiding the installation of any of the components of the door mounting and actuating means on the top of the housing 12, which are important features of the invention.

Although an exemplary embodiment of the present invention has been disclosed herein for purposes of illustration, it will be understood that various changes, modifications and substitutions may be incorporated in such embodiment without departing from the spirit of the invention as set forth in claims defining the invention, as follows.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a laundry drier, the combination of: a housing tiltable about a pivot axis and including a wall provided with a doorway having an axis perpendicular to said pivot axis, said wall having a recess therein at one side of and spaced from said doorway; a drum rotatable within said housing about said axis of said doorway and having an open end in register with said doorway; a shaft rotatably mounted on said housing at one side of said doorway and said recess and extending therebetween; a door connected to said shaft adjacent one end thereof and pivotable, in response to pivoting of said shaft, between an open position and a closed position wherein it closes said doorway, said door having a central portion which extends through said doorway into said open end of said drum when said door is in its closed position; and an actuator connected to said shaft adjacent the other end thereof and mounted on said wall within said recess.

2. In a laundry drier, the combination of: a housing tiltable about a pivot axis and including a wall provided with a doorway having an axis perpendicular to said pivot axis, said wall having a recess therein at one side of and spaced from said doorway; a drum rotatable within said housing about said axis of said doorway and having an open end in register with said doorway, said open end of said drum being provided with an inwardly converging peripheral surface; a shaftrotatably mounted on said wall at one side of said doorway and said recess and extending therehetween; a door connected to said shaft adjacent one end thereof and pivotable, in response to pivoting of said shaft, between an open position and a closed position wherein it closesv said doorway, said door having a central portion which extends through said doorway into said open end of said drum when said door is in its closed position, said' central portion of said door having an inwardly converging peripheral surface which is located in close juxtaposition to said inwardly converging peripheral surface of said open end of said drum when said door is in its closed position; and an actuator connected to said shaft adjacent the other end thereof and mounted on said wall within said recess.

3. In combination: a housing tiltable about a pivot axis and provided with a'doorway having an axis perpendicular to said pivot axis; a drum rotatable within said housing about said axis of said doorway and having an open end in register with said doorway, said open provided with an inwardly converging peripheral surface; a. door mounted on said housing for pivotal movement between open and closed positions relative to said doorway, said door having a central portion which extends through said doorway into said open end of said drum when said door is in its closed Position, said central portion of said door having an inwardly converging peripheral surface which is located in close juxtaposition to said inwardly converging peripheral surface of said open end of said drum when said door is in its closed position; and means mounted on said hous- -ing and connected to said door for moving same between its open and closed positions.

4. The combination defined in claim 3 including sealing means engaging said housing and said door when said door is in its closed position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Martinson Feb. 29, 1944 Wagner Mar. 25, 1952 Vander Veer et a1. Aug. 5, 1952 Grantham June 30, 1953 

